Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

Trustees of Dartmouth College

Code:

NCT06975800

Conditions

Social Influence

Epilepsy

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Low social feedback

High social feedback

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study aims to assess the impact of social influence on direct neural recordings in human patients undergoing surgical treatment of epilepsy. 24 patients recruited from the Epilepsy Center at Dartmouth Health Medical Center (DHMC) will undergo electrode implantation throughout the brain to localize epileptogenic zones. Patients will be asked to rate their provider's warmth, competence, and other, similar traits associated with care-competency. They will then complete the picture-induced fear and math portions of the multimodal negative affect task (MNAT) during which iEEG is recorded.

Conditions

Social Influence

Epilepsy

Study ID

NCT06975800

Start date

Apr 6, 2023

Status verified date

Jun, 2026

Completion date

Feb 28, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Feb 28, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients must be between 18-65 years of age.
  • Patients must have a diagnosis of refractory epilepsy undergoing intracranial EEG recording for clinical purposes.
  • Patients with a legal guardian will be considered for participation if they are interested and, in the judgment of the research team, they are capable of performing the cognitive tasks required of the study. In those instances, the patient and their legal guardian will both participate in the informed consent process, with the legal guardian signing the consent form.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient has additional neurological condition (such as stroke or dementia) or a psychiatric condition (such as active psychosis or suicidal ideation) and are deemed inappropriate for the study.
  • Patients are not able to provide informed consent for any reason (e.g. encephalopathic, experiencing a seizure).

Study Design

Enrollment

24 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Random Order 1: Effects of social feedback on intracranial EEG

Participants experience trials involving presentation of negative affective stimuli and an effort-demanding cognitive task. Trials are preceded by high or low social cues in random order.

experimental: Random Order 2: Effects of social feedback on intracranial EEG

Participants experience trials involving presentation of negative affective stimuli and an effort-demanding cognitive task. Trials are preceded by high or low social cues in random order.

Interventions

Low social feedback

Social information is provided to participants signaling that the upcoming trial will be low in negative affect and cognitive effort.

High social feedback

Social information is provided to participants signaling that the upcoming trial will be high in negative affect and cognitive effort.

Primary outcome measure

  • Negative affect ratings [ Time Frame: Ratings are made 3 to 10 seconds after experiencing each stimulus presented during task performance. ]
  • Cognitive effort ratings [ Time Frame: Ratings are made 3 to 10 seconds after experiencing each stimulus presented during task performance. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Tor D Wager, PhD

603-646-2196Tor.D.Wager@Dartmouth.edu

Locations

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center

Recruiting

Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, 03766

Contacts

Krzysztof A Bujarski, Doctor of Medicine

krzysztof.a.bujarski@hitchcock.org

More Information

Sponsor

Trustees of Dartmouth College

Last update posted

Jul 1, 2026

Last verified

Jun, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Trustees of Dartmouth College on 2026-07-01.